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Wednesday, June 26, 2013

The Hard Lie 2 Wrap-Up: Your Q's and My A's

Okay, let's bury this baby.
Thanks for reading my 5-part, Hard Lie 2 series last week. Response was overwhelming. But apparently almost 10,000 words and over 50 documents weren't enough, because I've received countless questions about the story via email and Twitter.
As this week has hopefully proven, this web site will be much more than just Greggo fallout. So until something newsworthy happens to someone on the show - Oh, I dunno, an arrest? A new radio job? A move to upstate New York? A pizza joint opening? - let this be the final item centering on the radio show formerly known as RAGE. Cool?
But before we depart, let me put some answers to the five most popular questions in the wake of the story ...

Q:How did you obtain the Twitter Direct Messages used in the story?A: Legally. Totally. I'm not nearly smart enough to be a computer hacker. The information was, literally, handed to me. In radio, newspapers and life, it's good to have sources.

Q:Don't you owe The Ticket an apology for bashing the way they shunned Greggo after he was fired there, because now you're treating him the same way?A: Nope. To me the situations are drastically different in that when Greggo was fired by The Ticket, those who turned their back on him personally still retained their jobs. He caused them headaches, but not employment. At The Fan, he took me down with him. Had Greggo been fired from RAGE but Sybil, Armen and I kept our jobs, I would't have publicized his destructive actions and would sympathetically reach out to him to get help. But we didn't. So I did. And I'm not.

Q:As Greggo has said many times since y'all's firing, did The Fan force ya'll to talk Cowboys every day?A: "Force" may be too strong, but certainly "expect" was in play. Our unofficial station motto was "When in doubt, Cowboys." And, honestly, I didn't have a problem with it. We were the home of the Cowboys, and we all know nothing moves the Metroplex sports needle more than America's Team. I was never told personally to force positive spins on Cowboys' stories, but I certainly did skip over a national baseball story or two to talk another Cowboys' angle.

Q:Why do you blame Greggo for your firing? Can't you just admit it was because of your lack of talent and your show's horrible ratings?A: As I've said before, from the birth of RAGE in 2010 we steadily climbed until in the last half of 2011 we had decent ratings. Nothing to threaten The Ticket's Hardline, but enough - in the 4's - to consistently beat ESPN's Galloway and cash some ratings-based bonus checks. It was about midway through 2012 when Greggo began missing work, or showing up in a less than desirable state of mind. In accordance, without any consistency and with an eroding chemistry, our show's quality, and ratings, dropped. So, yes, the low ratings might be the scapegoat. But I still believe Greggo's irresponsibillty and unprofessionalism sent the show into its spiral. That's not to say I don't share the blame for our demise. My natural talent is writing, not radio. But, again, I did all I could to throw RAGE a life raft, on and off the air.

Q:Have you heard Greggo's podcasts? And what do you think of him being mad at you for "dragging Jen into this mess"?A: I haven't. And I won't. I've heard enough from him to last me a long time. As for "dragging" his girlfriend, Jennifer, into the equation, I'd counter by saying she instead voluntarily injected herself into it when she helped Greggo fabricate and choreograph the lie to miss work in Nov. 2012, which was, looking back, the beginning of the end.

73 comments:

Why do still not acknowledge that ratings and lack of talent was also part of if not the defining reason for you and Sybil being terminated? As far as I know Armen still has a job so quit saying he was fired. Greggo was not the only reason you lost your job. Admit it. If you were so important and popular at the station they would have kept you around.

Didn't he literally JUST address this? Richie's man talent may be writing, but I thought he did a damn fine job on the radio. In fact, Richie and Greggo kept me listening to a station that I damn near abandoned after the firing of The Russ Martin Show. I would happily listen to Richie again... perhaps with Pugs this time? We can all embrace our RAPE

"Nope. To me the situations are drastically different in that when Greggo was fired by The Ticket, those who turned their back on him personally still retained their jobs. He caused them headaches, but not employment. At The Fan, he took me down with him. Had Greggo been fired from RAGE but Sybil, Armen and I kept our jobs, I would't have publicized his destructive actions and would sympathetically reach out to him to get help. But we didn't. So I did. And I'm not."

No mention of ratings.

Looks to me like he puts all the blame on Greggo and none on himself or the fact the ratings were bad and they had been given years to succeed. Again if he was bringing something to the table the Fan would have kept him. White Truck Wednesday doesn't exactly scream success.

For the record, I like his writing and enjoyed his work at the Observer and I hope to enjoy his work here as well. It seems unprofessional to ignore his own shortcomings(pun intended) and place all the blame on Greggo and not the fact he just wasn't any good. I just think he sucked at radio and RAGE was terrible with or without Greggo.

_Albert's Poohole - Here is the direct quote from this piece where Riche addresses the ratings. "In accordance, without any consistency and with an eroding chemistry, our show's quality, and ratings, dropped. So, yes, the low ratings might be the scapegoat. But I still believe Greggo's irresponsibillty and unprofessionalism sent the show into its spiral."

Might another explanation be that people turned into hear Greggo and then turned the dial when he was not showing up? And Richie is trying to play both sides with this as he never would have gotten a drive-time gig without hitching his wagon to Greggo in the first place, and he played the situation after the Ticket breakup to his best advantage. The difference being in the Ticket situation Mike was a No.1 and could more forward where it was obvious Richie was not going to headline his own show. I am like many others on here who really like your stuff in print but ever since Part 3 of your series you seem like a whiner who just needs to move on.

Richie, I understand your position on, and the relationship between, ratings and advertising-generated monies. The one thing I do question, however, is your claim that RAGE was pulling 4s until mid 2012. Following the local radio market is little hobby of mine. (Aside: I sorely miss the late, great Al Brumley's wonderful radio column in the DMN.) Thus ratings, both cumulative and especially within a target demo, interest me. I can only recall two or three periods of RAGE hitting the 4 mark. Have I misread you? If so, my apologies. If not, then how are you interpreting your ratings as such?

Also: Do you still plan on writing the piece you promised about another local afternoon show that is in contract negotiations--one which might find itself a new home?

Look for an update on Friday? Probably you saying you'll have the full story on Monday and by Sunday everyone will know the story and it won't be true. And please don't take credit for the BaD Radio scoop. A poster on my ticket confessions had that story LONG before you did.

You're leaving out one of the most important aspects against people saying this was just your fault. You currently have what, three, four sponsors on this very website that were sponsors for The Fan. Tells me you were the reason they sponsored The Fan to begin with. You helped make money for The Fan, and ultimately, it's about MONEy, not just ratings. Those who have met you in person know how much you did for that station, and that's why we respect your integrity.

Obviously already out of material having to revisit this tired story. That didn't take long. Big surprise continuing to blame someone else for your failure. Who was to blame for you being fired from The Star Telegram, The Observer, and for your wife having to find love in another man's arms? I'm guessing that was Greggo's fault also. Tool.

Richie, thanks for answering these questions. Another one I think readers may be curious about is Greggo's relationship with Chris Kyle. Do you think they were even friends outside the show? He claims he texted with him while at the Super Bowl and if I recall right left Fan Bowl being distressed over the news of his death. Then I believe Greggo missed some work over the memorial and funeral in Austin. Greggo embellishing about his role at the memorial at Cowboys stadium and claiming to be asked to be a pallbearer were two of the more stunning revelations from the article I thought since it seemed like Greggo and him were very tight by the way he glowingly talked about him on RAGE.

I think they were friendly acquaintances, sure. But ask anyone from The Fan that was on that RV home from the Super Bowl. Greggo wasn't texting anyone. He was passed out on Ambien and ripping farts so lethal we had to drive with the windows down on a 35-degree night.

I agree with the fact your show started to fail around late 2011. I am a p1 and gave y'all a listen during a hard line commercial or a segment I didn't like. Early on I'd stick with y'all if I liked what I heard which I found myself doing less and less because I thought greggo was slipping hard. Atleast 10 times I was like what the hell is greggo talking about, he's back on drugs. It got worse and worse and ran me off. It all makes sense now

again, maybe a lot of these Greggo defenders weren't listening to Greggo's last few months on the Ticket. Hell, years. He was awful. The moment that crystallized that (and I've mentioned it before, so it's a dead horse) was when he stopped down the show one time to ask Rhyner if he liked his new orange socks. Seriously. In the middle of a serious sports discussion, Greggo wants Rhyner to validate his fucking socks.

Dear Mr. Whitt,Since you have so much documentation to back your Greggo claims. I'm sure you could present a collection of ratings numbers from reliable sources to back yourself up and put the naysayers such as myself to rest. Why don't you just go ahead and do that?

Also a question you failed to address. Why after much documented drug abuse and unapproved absences not to metion Greggo volunteering to resign on multiple occasions did the Fan not release him or simply let him resign? From your story there is no way any kind of law suite will hold. I'm sure there are smart HR people at the Fan that know this.

This leads me again to think something else was afoot. Sounds as if the Fan by wanting to bring Bob and Dan on board they had aspirations of improving by bringing better talent in and shit canning the mess that was Rage all along.

I've written several times that we had ratings in the 4's and I think one month at 5.0 in late 2011. I don't have an email from Arbitron if that's what you're looking for. Sorry.I've talked to several legal types and HR friends who strongly disagree that Greggo's case wouldn't hold up. CBS feared it. I've been told that from management still in the building.Thanks.

I think the ratings began to sag because of a total loss of continuity on the show. Kinda like Carson's last few years on the Tonight Show. He worked so little it gave everyone an opportunity to sample the other stuff on at the time. Combine the absences with the mind numbing gibberish flowing from Greggo's mouth, it was a recipe for disaster.

You admitted your talent is in writing, not on the radio. So I got my bowl of blood. I don't have anything else to complain about. You may suck on the radio but I haven't picked up an Observer since they let you go. (and Red Meat)

Lmao!!!! I hope your getting as big a chuckle out of these comments as I am Ritchie. With all the "I hate you's" and "you sucks". Yet they are addicted to your blog. All these people who claimed to have tuned out or never listened to RAGE sure do have some hot opinions on the shows demise, whatever the reason may be. Your blogs have been a good read and I will be reading them as long as you're typing them.

Wait, so the ratings dropped after Greggo started being absent? Do you not see the issue with using that as a reason? Greggo was the ratings. He was the one people were tuning in for. That means, as many have pointed out, that you, Richie, are the one who was the parachute on that dragster.

I think it could also mean that Fans were getting tired of the inconsistencies that have been common practice at the Fan since the beginning. I'm sure having a partner who goes days without showing up for work with little to no notice makes for difficult radio (especially 5 hour shows) It was obvious that something was wrong with the chemistry on the show for about the last 6 months and rather than fix the problem (get a true lead guy in there to let RW play Robin to) management was content with letting the show fail because I'm sure they knew in February that they were going to bring Ben and Skin back. (another mistake that will be dealt with sooner rather than later. Ben and Skin are good, but will present less of a threat to The Hardline and GAC than RAGE did)

Great series of articles. As for the Ticket animosity stuff, I can see how they'd resent your characterization of their treatment of Greggo. That jumped out to me when I'd read the Observer article back when it was published. The employment and ratings issues shouldn't matter - when you're disrespected and lied to the way you all were, the shunning that results is wholly understandable and probably warranted. I did hear Craig Miller's bit the other day - seems out of line, but, eh - I'm up in Minnesota and don't follow things as closely as I would were I in Dallas, so, I don't know. It got me here, though, so you can thank him for that.

I am pretty sure we all have enough challenges and issues in our own lives then to spend time here ripping a man that simply wanted to tell his facts of what happened to basically the question you all wanted to know! If you want to analyze facts or his commentary, jump on over to Greggo's blog and read his facts, then come back here and compare and constrast. Easy to see where you should start with dissecting credibility. I have had an employment contract severed and I do know in the great state of Texas, they do not need to give you a reason. So likely they did not give Richie the common courtesy of a detailed answer. This is how the world turns. - TT

I guess my question would be: after personally documenting his implosion at the Ticket caused by lies, betrayal, and substance abuse (in an atmosphere of people that he had known for a long time), why on Earth did you think it would be a good idea to work with him?

People misconstrue that one. The Fan's old program director, Tom Bigby, asked me if I could get Greggo in for an interview. When Newy went on vacation he paired with Greggo and thought we were good together. I never recruited Greggo for a show together and certainly didn't "hitch my wagon" to him. But when the boss says "he's your new partner", you go to work and do the best you can.

I am a fan of your writing, and I enjoyed reading the Greggo article. But I come from a long line of addicts in my family I think you are using Greggo as somewhat of a scapegoat. I agree with your assessment of The Ticket guys in that they did Greggo wrong by completely turning their backs on him. But are you saying that if Ticket management decided to fire Mike and Corby with Greggo that they would have been justified in doing what they did? I'm sorry, but per your story Greggo offered to quit, management told him no. It was managements decision to fire you, why take it out on Greggo?

Ryan I am not sure if you heard the last show when they were out at Texas Motor Speedway, but when Greggo went out and talked to people, it was an absolute train wreck. Never would I have thought that hearing that and the awkward interview with Johnny Manziel would be the last time I heard RAGE. I had listened to these guys for at least a couple of years and towards the end I would just turn the radio dial because I was so frustrated. There used to be good chemistry there. And guess what, I was one of the ones that hated Richie, but I understood he was at least trying to keep the show out of the ditch as much as he could.

Greggo was always trying to recapture Ticket glory by copying Corby yuck monkey bits. But he could never pull it off. And then the drug handicapped mind made it worse. That was never a good idea to give Greggo an unprepared bit with an open mike.

I have literally never heard or read anything you have ever done unless it has dealt with The Ticket or former Ticket hosts. Is it fair to say that your biggest "hits" on this blog have been Ticket or former Ticket host related? Maybe it's time you leave the market for a fresh pasture.

I enjoyed listening to Rage, especially every Tuesday at a quarter till five with Eddie Gossage., I appreciated the fact that you all talked NASCAR. The point where I punched out was during the Manti Tao beating of a non story. It got to where 5 minutes into your show here comes Sybil to talk about Manti. It was fast becoming a chick gossip show and I avoid those at all costs. Then there were the on air arguments you and the junkie had over everything.

I believe these shows are on the air too long each day. The shows should be on for two hours, an hour and a half of sports and a half hour of goofing off. NEXT!!! It wears on me when one segment is spent on discussing what the hosts had for lunch followed by a segment on what the dig deposited on the floor, That’s is a punch out for me. This is what went on today on the A.M. afternoon talk with the grouchy old man and the frat boy. I enjoy this site and try to read it every day.

Hello Richie.. I was an avid listener to RAGE everyday on the drive home. I liked what Greggo had to offer when you two first hit the airwaves. I also liked the fact that you are a die-hard Cowboys Fan, not just a journalist. It became apparent that Greggo was falling out long before he was pushed out. The true fans of your show thought you did a great job, and will always back you. I still have the memories of my 11 year old daughter singing "Dead and Gone" in the car every time that segment started. Haven't been back to 105.3 except to hear Brad Sham call a Cowboys game. Keep doing what you do, and we'll be there for you. Thank you!